Envied Innocence

It is easy to envy children with their innocence and naivety. Someone could hand North Korean flags to a group of five-year-olds and they would twirl them around just because they look nice. (Heck, that could be done with some adults who can't tell China from Chile.) Hand the flags to most adults to wave, and their first question is "What drugs are you on?" The difference in mindset is stark.

The knowledge of good and evil comes at a price, especially in this society where there is minimal ethical consumption. The knowledge that a good portion of cocoa comes from child labor, for example, can make a chocolate bar taste like brick.

The knowledge that thousands of people have been exploited for profit can turn any sympathetic person from purchasing companies' goods and services. Even so, sometimes it's unavoidable to not use a product, such as medicine. In that case, it can be argued that not knowing its immoral origins is actually better, simply for conscience's sake. That situation would be like if a well-behaved child read a science book upstairs when all the adults were downstairs, running around with scissors. The child knew only that the adults were running, an indication of chaos. But he couldn't comprehend the full severity of the situation. He would have been unable to stop the situation at all, so it could be argued he would be smarter and better off not knowing it was occurring in the first place. The adults even got skin-colored bandages to cover their wounds, so the child wouldn't even be able to notice (an analogy for a Public Relations cover-up in the midst of a scandal).

Indeed, to be like a child has its perks and its drawbacks. Children get to play with lead-laced toys that other children in foreign countries make, without skipping a beat. But the children are impacted in ways they cannot comprehend. Not only from the lead, but from the machinations of the type of society that puts the dollar above the earth and the people on it.